A Chinese man who suffered from amnesia for 30 years has suddenly recalled the name of his hometown while watching coronavirus updates from his birthplace on TV.
The migrant worker, Zhu Jiaming, had not been able to go home for three decades after he injured his head in a work accident and lost the majority of his memory.
He has got back in touch with his family with the help of local police and planned to reunite with them soon.
A Chinese man, Mr Zhu (right), who had suffered from amnesia for 30 years has suddenly recalled the name of his hometown while watching coronavirus updates on TV
Mr Zhu managed to find his family again after getting back his memory. ‘I thought I’ll never see you again,’ Mr Zhu’s mother, 83, tearfully said in their first video call, ‘I’m glad you’re still here’
‘I thought I’ll never see you again,’ Mr Zhu’s mother, 83, tearfully said in their first video call.
‘I’m glad you’re still here,’ she added.
Thirty years ago, Mr Zhu left his family to find construction jobs in southern Chinese province Fujian, which is over 1,300 kilometres (807 miles) away from his hometown Chishui, Guizhou Province in south-western China.
He suffered amnesia after damaging his brain following a work accident during the same year.
The construction worker also lost his ID and became homeless before he met a couple at work, known by their surname Lei, who offered him to live with them.
The construction worker also lost his ID and became homeless before he met a couple at work, known by their surname Lei (middle and right), who offered him to live with them
Mr Zhu is pictured showing his head injury to a local police officer during an interview
In 2015, Mr Zhu was invited to move with the couple to Yunhe, Zhejiang Province, where the Leis are originally from. The eastern Chinese city is nearly 1,500 kilometres (932 miles) away from Mr Zhu’s hometown.
The 57-year-old resident said he felt like he finally had a home again: ‘They are like my family and they’ve made me feel warm.’
‘I was trying to find where my hometown was,’ Mr Zhu told the local press, ‘but I couldn’t remember much.’
Mr Zhu left his family to find construction jobs in southern Chinese province Fujian, which is over 807 miles away from his hometown Chishui, Guizhou Province (pictured)
After his life settling down in the new city, Mr Zhu found some of his memory slowly coming back to him.
One day, he suddenly remembered where he was from while watching a coronavirus report about his native city on TV.
Mr Zhu then went to the local police who managed to track down his family – his now 83-year-old mother and four siblings. Mr Zhu’s father had passed away 18 years ago.
His hometown residency was cancelled after he was reported as a missing person years ago, according to local press Qianjiang Evening News.
The migrant worker is now waiting to receive his new residency and hoping to reunite with his family soon.
The news has come after the number of new coronavirus cases of in China continue to fall.
Officials in Hubei released a statement today and ordered businesses across the province resume to normal.
Doctors at a makeshift hospital in a sports stadium in Wuhan, China, are pictured examining lung scans of a patient with COVID-19, which is currently untreatable
A picture released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV through its official Weibo account shows President Xi delivering a speech at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan this morning
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 3,158 people in the nation and 4,380 worldwide.
Globally , there are over 121,000 people have been diagnosed with the deadly disease. There are 382 confirmed cases in the UK and six people have died.
Many of the UK’s cases have been among recent visitors to Italy or from people who caught it inside the UK since Italy’s outbreak began.
Health minister Nadine Dorries has today revealed one of her staff has now ‘gone down’ with coronavirus after she tested positive and went into self-isolation for the next fortnight as a MP she met last week was told by the NHS to stay at home.
The picture shows a medic records a patient’s condition at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, China
Italy is one of the most-affected countries outside China, with a total of 3,090 cases, including 107 deaths. People are seen above wearing medical face masks on the streets of Rome